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\"Alhazen\" and \"Alhaitham\" redirect here. For other uses, see Alhazen (disambiguation). For the fictional character, see List of Genshin Impact characters \u00a7 Alhaitham.

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Alhazen \u1e24asan Ibn al-Haytham
\u0627\u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u064a\u062b\u0645

Born	c. 965 (0965) (c. 354 AH)^[1] Basra, Buyid Emirate
Died	c. 1040 (1041) (c. 430 AH)^[1] (aged around 75) Cairo, Fatimid Caliphate
Known for	Book of Optics, Doubts Concerning Ptolemy, Alhazen's problem, analysis,^[2] Catoptrics,^[3] horopter, Spherical aberration, intromission theory of visual perception, moon illusion, experimental science, scientific methodology,^[4] animal psychology^[5]
Scientific career
Fields	Physics, mathematics, astronomy
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\u1e24asan Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen; /\u00e6l\u02c8h\u00e6z\u0259n/; full name Ab\u016b \u02bfAl\u012b al-\u1e24asan ibn al-\u1e24asan ibn al-Haytham \u0623\u0628\u0648 \u0639\u0644\u064a\u060c \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0633\u0646 \u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0633\u0646 \u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u064a\u062b\u0645; c. 965 \u2013 c. 1040) was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] Referred to as \"the father of modern optics\",^[10]^[11]^[12] he made significant contributions to the principles of optics and visual perception in particular. His most influential work is titled Kit\u0101b al-Man\u0101\u1e93ir (Arabic: \u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0646\u0627\u0638\u0631, \"Book of Optics\"), written during 1011\u20131021, which survived in a Latin edition.^[13] The works of Alhazen were frequently cited during the scientific revolution by Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Christiaan Huygens, and Galileo Galilei.\n

Ibn al-Haytham was the first to correctly explain the theory of vision,^[14] and to argue that vision occurs in the brain, pointing to observations that it is subjective and affected by personal experience.^[15] He also stated the principle of least time for refraction which would later become Fermat's principle.^[16] He made major contributions to catoptrics and dioptrics by studying reflection, refraction and nature of images formed by light rays.^[17]^[18] Ibn al-Haytham was an early proponent of the concept that a hypothesis must be supported by experiments based on confirmable procedures or mathematical reasoning – an early pioneer in the scientific method five centuries before Renaissance scientists,^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22] he is sometimes described as the world's \"first true scientist\".^[12] He was also a polymath, writing on philosophy, theology and medicine.^[23]\n

Born in Basra, he spent most of his productive period in the Fatimid capital of Cairo and earned his living authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.^[24] Ibn al-Haytham is sometimes given the byname al-Ba\u1e63r\u012b after his birthplace,^[25] or al-Mi\u1e63r\u012b (\"the Egyptian\").^[26]^[27] Al-Haytham was dubbed the \"Second Ptolemy\" by Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi^[28] and \"The Physicist\" by John Peckham.^[29] Ibn al-Haytham paved the way for the modern science of physical optics.^[30]\n

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Biography

Book of Optics

Theory of optics

Law of reflection

Alhazen's problem

Camera Obscura

Refractometer

Unconscious inference

Color constancy

Other contributions

Scientific method

Other works on physics

Optical treatises

Celestial physics

Mechanics

Astronomical works

On the Configuration of the World

Doubts Concerning Ptolemy

Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets

Other astronomical works

Mathematical works

Geometry

Number theory

Calculus

Other works

Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals

Engineering

Philosophy

Theology

Legacy

List of works

Lost works

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

Primary

Secondary

External links

Ibn al-Haytham

Media collections